I just put a cap on the back of my truck, which means the center rear-view mirror is about useless, especially in the rain. Unfortunately, the side view mirrors don't cut it, either. The factory paddle mirror on the left is too small, and the driver's side, well, check my gallery if you want to know what's wrong with it...

Anyway, I was backing my grandfather's '03 Edge out his garage today, the power mirrors on that truck are GREAT. I think I'm going to try to pick up a set of them on eBay, unless anyone knows of a reason why that wouldn't work, or knows of something better (read: bigger) that will fit on without drilling any holes in the truck. I don't think I'd bother to wire them up (even if the harness is in the door, I don't have anywhere to mount the switch), but since I'm the only one who ever drives the truck, the mirrors never get moved.

What I need to know is what years will fit on my truck. Mine's a '97, but it doesn't look like the doors changed from '93 to at least '03 or '04, and the mirror on my grandfather's truck looked just like the one that was on my mother's '94 Explorer, so I'm guessing that any Explorer mirror from before '02 would fit, too. Does anyone know for sure?

Thanks

 

'93-'05 all interchange.

I'm also fairly sure they all mount the same way, but don't quote me on that part.

 

Does that include the Explorer mirrors? From the outside, they appear identical, but Explorer mirrors on eBay are about half the price of the power ones for the Ranger (and roughly the same price as the little manual paddle ones to fit on a Ranger...).

 

When did Maine start becoming part of Australia or England and driving on the wrong side of the road. the left, and drivers side mirrors should be one and the same.


Sorry just had to bring that up, and give ya a hard time, unless you meant your other left.

 

Haha very nice MB, I didn't catch that reading his post.

john112deere, I'm not sure about the Exploder mirrors. I know a lot of stuff swaps, and I seem to remember some of the eBay auctions mentioning both, but I'm not positive.

 

Have you tried buying one of those little round blind spot mirrors that stick on your side mirror? I bought one and it works great. They are $.97 at wal-mart. I'd try that first before you go switching stuff out.

 

Yeah, I caught that when I replied this morning; the right mirror is too small, and the left is this home-made monstrosity.

I'm actually running on JUST a stick-on circle one on the left (bigger than most, though), because what I have now won't hold an adjustment and shakes like mad at any speed. The fish-eye works ok on a dry, sunny day, but I have no depth perception when it's dark and rainy, and they just plain suck for backing up at night or in a parking garage.

 

I know what you're saying. I can't see at night when its raining either unless there are street lights. Forget it if I'm in the country without street lights.

 

So I've found these which look like just what I want.

They should fit on my truck, right?

I'd hate to spend the money to find out they didn't...

 

Well, everywhere I called was out of stock on 1998+ Ranger manual mirrors like I wanted, so I started looking at Explorer mirrors. I matched (I thought, anyway) part numbers between POWER mirrors between '97 Rangers and '97 Explorers, so I took a gamble and ordered a pair of manual mirrors for a '97 Explorer.

Well, the short story is that they don't fit.

The longer answer is that as best I can tell, two of the three studs are in the same places (the bottom two are closer together on the Explorer mirror), so I might be able to make them work with a little modification.

I didn't have time to get into anything that complicated today, so I just buttoned it back up and will take a look at it again next weekend (hopefully get a friend who knows more about bodywork than I do to look at it, too), but in the meantime- if I drill a new hole in the door, how concerned do I need to be about rust protection? Can I just dab some touch-up paint on it and call it good? (It's a nearly rust-free '97 with ~230k miles, so I suspect rust will not be what kills this truck, but I'd like to protect it as best I can.) Also, on the inside of the door there is a second piece of sheetmetal, that has three large (~1") holes drilled in it for access to the nuts. Am I going to wreck the structural integrity of the door if I enlarge these for access to the back of the new hole I'm planning on drilling? I may be able to get the nut on there without enlarging the holes, but getting it tight will be near impossible.

Thanks for any help!